Indulgences
by delictabledahlia
Summary: After the comet things have finally fallen into a neat and tidy routine, until one mistake can either make something or break everything. Zucest/Tyzula love triangle with Mai caught in the crossfire.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: **__This is my first fanfiction, so I hope it goes well. I've been reading for a long time and I've always wanted to read this premise, but it wasn't out there, so I decided to write it.  
__**Pairing: **__ Azula x Zuko, Azula x Ty Lee, Zuko x Mai. This is a Zucest/Tyzula triangle - mainly a Zucest story, however - with Mai caught in the crossfire.  
__**Beta: **__FanfictionVillainess.  
__**Warnings: **__Incest, lemons, mentions of child abuse and rape, a little foul language.  
__**Disclaimer: **__Not mine, most definitely not mine, else we would know Azula's fate by now (what's it been, like 6 years or something?)_

* * *

**\- Indulgences -**

**\- by delictabledelias - **

* * *

"I don't want to see her. Tell her I'm under arrest for killing someone or something," Azula moans from under her silky red blankets.

Zuko is leaning in her doorway in the evening, and Azula had only an hour ago decided to at last take a nap. She had blissfully forgotten that her mother is visiting, which is the last thing Azula wants to do when she is so incredibly exhausted.

Another head pokes through Azula's door and she groans loudly.

"She's sick, Zuko. She was hurling all night. It was kind of sad," Mai says and Azula just buries herself further under her blankets until she is just a small lump underneath the sheets of a mammoth bed.

Zuko then sighs, glances at his girlfriend, then back to his sister. "Fine," he says and Azula smirks underneath the dim red glow of her hiding place. "If you don't want to see her you don't have to. Go ahead and act like a child."

"Gladly," Azula purrs, her voice muffled by the blankets, and Zuko just shakes his head in frustration and leaves the room.

Azula remains there, eventually crawling out of her blankets and lying back down on her rouge pillows. All she can think of how her mother managed to show up at the absolute _worst _time; the worst time as in Azula was completely planning on figuring this mess out and possibly exposing Zuko in front of Mai, but then, lo and behold, her mother decides to visit.

She will _not _reveal it in front of her mother. Or anywhere _near _her mother for that matter.

Not that Zuko would tell her. That brings a tiny smirk to Azula's lips as she closes her eyes and winds up falling asleep, her pallid cheek sticking to the mattress with her sweat in the heated summer.

She closes her eyes and tries to fall asleep, although her dreams have been so troubled of late. Waking up screaming, waking up and needing to hurl up her guts.

Princess Azula is getting so tired of pretending.

_Azula can feel the rain drenching her body, making her already cold, wet clothes stick to her body. She can feel pressure against her, against her ribs, against her abdomen, and then she looks around and sees that she is in the middle of the ocean._

_Drifting aimlessly on a tattered raft, her lips dry, cracked and bleeding. And then comes the pain, the pressure on her body that she cannot explain. Her hands are on her abdomen, her lips opening and closing wordlessly. Speechless. Speechless._

_"I'm here," says someone she did not notice. Zuko... Zuko and he is beside her, and she is... she is going into labor._

_Panic... she breaks out into a sweat... _

And then she is ripped out of her slumber by the back of a soft hand on her forehead.

"Still no fever," says Ty Lee's voice and Azula tries to go back to sleep. Her skin is cold and sticky from her agonizing nightmare. "You're really sick, though."

Azula contemplates briefly just blurting it out, but she is unsure how to voice it. She does not have a decent enough lie to temporary avert any invasive questions or prying. What she _needs _is her brother alone, but that does not seem to be happening with Mai seeming to have moved in.

"I'm fine," Azula says at last, although her voice feels weak and sore.

"Okay," Ty Lee replies, and it is very evident that she does not believe Azula.

Princess Azula is getting so tired of pretending.

* * *

_Zuko was so happy to have his sister back. He realized many things in her absence, while... thinking she was probably dead. But she does not want to be home as much as other people want her to be. For four days, Azula maims, mutilates and raves._

_But Azula gives up on fighting, clawing, scratching and biting on the fourth night, which, in Zuko's mind, is longer than he thought she could hold out. Being chained down, being prevented from bending even when she desperately wanted to, eventually wore on her._

_"You are the most stubborn asshole I have ever had the displeasure of meeting," Azula snarls as Zuko has her handcuffs unlocked, keeping himself what he hopes is a safe distance away. (A safe distance actually being a few miles probably... perhaps the North Pole?)_

_She looks at her chafed hands and squeezes her eyes shut, painfully fixated on the memories, the memories that hurt so bad. Zuko watches, wary to touch her but wanting to ease her pain._

_"I could say the same about you," Zuko replies and Azula just scoffs._

_"This is some kind of game isn't it? What's next?" Azula says, her voice cracking slightly. Zuko does not know what to make of it._

_Zuko's tongue flicks over his dry lips. "It's not a game. I'm going... I'm going to help you get better."_

_"Let's do a little psychological test for starters," Azula purrs, suddenly seeming so less... defeated. That worries the Fire Lord slightly. "This is a good one. Why don't we try it on you and see your results?"_

_Zuko just squints. "Uh, okay," he feebly replies, thinking there is a one hundred percent chance this is a trick or trap. She may be broken and worn down, but she is not harmless. However, he finds that playing along and being polite to her is going to get him further than having her chained down again._

_"I'm going to tell you a word and you say the first thing that comes to mind," Azula says and Zuko supposes playing along might win him points and make her more amicable than she was when she first arrived here._

_"Okay," Zuko agrees and Azula is startled. He usually has no patience for her._

_"Dog," Azula begins._

_"Cat," Zuko replies quickly._

_"House," Azula says at the same pace._

_"Family?" Zuko suggests, rubbing his neck at that one._

_"Night," Azula says calmly and Zuko wonders what information could possibly come of this bastardized childhood game._

_"Sleep," Zuko answers._

_"Tree," Azula continues._

_"Climb," Zuko bounces back._

_"Light," she says and he wonders why her eyes are alit with anticipation. _

_"Fire," Zuko replies, the obvious answer._

_"Mother," Azula says, the word slow this time, savored in her mouth because of the hurt look in Zuko's eyes. It was at that point in her own test that she started to resist. _

_Zuko falters before replying, "Regret."_

_And then Azula pauses. "Cinnamon."_

_"Fire Flakes," Zuko says, his heart relieved,_

_"Murder," Azula says very calmly, and Zuko looks unnerved by it._

_"War," he suggests._

_"Torture," Azula replies in the exact tone she used for _tree_, which somewhat intimidates Zuko._

_"... war," and Zuko is confused._

_"Rape," Azula says, this one spat, a little more feeling behind it but still a dull look in her eyes as if it doesn't disturb her. Zuko, however, makes a face of disgust._

_"What are? These..." Zuko leans back slightly._

_"Go on," Azula insists, still rubbing at her wrists._

_"Revulsion, or something." This is a game. She's smirking._

_And she hesitates for effect before breathing, "Incest."_

_"This is over," Zuko says harshly, gesturing to the guards who have been watching uncomfortably, eyeing Azula for an attack._

_Azula shakes her head slowly as she is re-handcuffed and taken to her room. She's laughing as they take her, after glancing over her shoulder and seeing how queasy Zuko looked._

_And Azula still recalls her answers because the doctors did a lot of nervous whispering. She didn't want to partake in it in the first place. If she weren't, that week, lucid enough to be _able _to answer the questions._

_Her answers were: Cat, palace, dreams, fall, fire, fuck you, her perfume, fuck you, what I'm going to do to you, I'm done with this, my brother. _

_Their faces on the last one were quite delightful._

* * *

"Please come to dinner," Ty Lee asks as she is messing with a ceremonial blade she found shoved into one of Azula's drawers. She is starting to get bored out of her mind of late.

Ty Lee's job of the past four years pays magnificently. And she does like Azula's... company. _However_, neither of those things matter much when she is stuck in Azula's room. Watching the princess all the time is not agonizing. Unless she is just pouting for ten years, and Ty Lee has begun to realize why every single nanny Azula ever had has hated her.

"I don't want to talk to my mother, or eat," Azula replies, her voice muffled by her pillows.

"She's not _that _horrible," Ty Lee says, to which Azula sighs and harrumphs. "Azula, I'm afraid that my muscles will atrophy if you don't get up."

"No one is stopping you from leaving. It's not like you've never looked the other way," Azula snarls and Ty Lee rubs her lips together.

Ty Lee rubs her face. "I don't want to leave. At least come get something to eat with me, and you can run away without even making eye contact with her. Will you _at least _do that? I'll make it up to you."

Azula sighs before sitting up. "Fine. Just let me get dressed. I want to make her remember that I am younger and much hotter than she ever was."

Ty Lee frowns for a flicker of a second at that troubling desire, but she holds her tongue because she has a chance to escape. Azula gets dressed, and Ty Lee cannot help but watch her in the mirror. She is certain that the princess notices.

But she does not care.

* * *

_"I'm happy to," Ty Lee says earnestly and Zuko is surprised. He expected it would take much more bargaining, even with Mai's tip that Ty Lee was itching obsessively for change in her life._

_"It's not going to be easy," Zuko remarks and Ty Lee shrugs._

_"You underestimate me," she says with a tiny grin. "I mean, if there's anything I'm pretty good at, its being unsuspecting, cute, dealing with Azula and stopping people from burning down cities or hitting my friends with chunks of sharp rocks."_

_"Right," Zuko replies. "When can you start?"_

* * *

Azula sits in the dining room and wonders how she got roped into this. She genuinely intended just to get her food, make an appearance and disappear again, but now she is being served and listening to the mundane and frustrating small talk of her brother and mother.

However, despite her casual and shallow conversation, Ursa is watching Azula carefully as her daughter waves her hand a tad too aggressively at the poor man trying to pour her a glass of wine, and he hesitantly offers her tea, to which she seems to think for a moment, and then shakes her head and asks for water.

She watches the way she is walking, the way her hands twitch towards something that is not there. Azula rubbing her temples, looking somewhat disoriented, and her complete disgust towards her food.

And Ursa wonders if they all have decided just not to tell her, or Azula has not told them. Then she feels a twist in her gut as she wonders if Azula even _knows _who the father is but then she chastises herself mentally. She finds herself hating thinking anything insulting about her daughter, out of some insecurity. Half the time she finds herself rolling her eyes at Zuko and telling him what's wrong, but Azula, Azula she treads very lightly around.

Perhaps because Zuko's love is unconditional, and Azula's is _very_ conditional. Not that Ursa feels she has it in the slightest. Perhaps because Ursa knows she is not nearly as welcome in this palace as she is in her home, and Zuko is the only inhabitant who attempts to make her feel wanted.

"Are you two still dating?" Ursa inquires, her eyes flickering between Azula and Ty Lee.

Ty Lee has just put a huge bite of food into her mouth, and her eyes widen with momentary panic.

"Something like that," Azula answers quietly. "Usually it's Mai and Zuko who get asked about that. They have been so _reluctant _to make a commitment."

Zuko nearly knocks over his glass. He has no idea what she is playing at, but he does not like it. He does not like the malicious glint in her eyes, or how he never knows what to expect from her.

What is certain, is that she is only pretending to be civil.

And within her, anger and discontent continue to simmer.

* * *

_Azula examines Zuko closely, studying him with her lips slightly parted. He notices her gaze, and it gives him chilly, coarse gooseflesh. She is sitting in the living room near him, drinking tea as Zuko tries and tries futilely to make her believe he is on her side._

_The small talk makes her want to burn everything to the ground. She hates him, how she hates him. He took everything and she will always hate him, but now she knows what she has to do. Azula holds grudges, and she is proud, but she is not stupid._

_She knows sometimes fallacious niceties are the way to get what you want._

_"Tea bores me, brother," Azula at last says and he stares at her for a moment._

_"I'm on your side."_

_"You keep repeating that. But the more you say it, the less I believe it," she breathes smugly._

_"You _want _me on your side, Azula. You need it because I'm the only person standing between you and some really nasty things that people want to do to you."_

_"Mm."_

_"What?"_

_"Nasty things," she replies, smirking. "Maybe... I don't want you on my side. Maybe I want you on top of me."_

_Zuko clenches his jaw. "That was a ridiculous adolescent mistake. I'm not going to hurt you like that."_

_"Pain and pleasure are such similar sensations." Another smirk, and he realizes that she is playing with him. He feels like an elephant-rat in the claws of a lion-vulture, and the more he wriggles, the more he tries to escape or reason with Azula, it only gives her sick delight._

_He does know that he is the one with power now. Zuko has complete legal responsibility over his sister, due to her mental afflictions and the four nations lack of trust in her. But she still makes him slightly skittish, and he supposes it is something to do with just how twisted she can be._

_Or perhaps, perhaps because she reminds him of all of his dishonorable acts._

_Azula then pauses. "You never hurt me. If anything, I coerced you. I imagine I'm impossible to turn down."_

_Zuko inhales sharply at that. Her narcissism seems not to fade with age._

_"I'm... I probably..." Zuko clamps his jaw shut. She is trying to coax him, trying to fish the words she wants out of his mouth._

_"You're sweating. Are you scared or aroused?" Azula inquires mockingly with her nail in her mouth. He averts his eyes and tries to remember how strong he has become over the years. She unnerves him, and she likely always will unnerve him, no matter how powerful he grows._

_"I'm neither. I'm _frustrated_," Zuko says coldly, glaring at his tea. She feels a genuine thrill being the only person who can make the powerful and dignified Fire Lord Zuko squirm like he's a child again._

_"Would you like me to make you less frustrated?" she whispers and he clenches his jaw._

_Zuko averts his eyes._

* * *

After dinner, Azula cannot believe she has just been left alone with her mother. She has allowed herself to be take into a parlor, although she feels dizzy and wants to lie down. But a vicious part of her wants to disprove mother's dear and condescending assumptions about her mental state.

It is awkward, awkward and silent, and Azula suddenly notices she does not have the sensation of Ty Lee's eyes on her, or Zuko's. It should be freeing, but it makes her feel like a child who can be trusted in this woman's watch.

Ursa clears her throat and Azula remains silent.

"Don't think I don't know you're pregnant," Ursa at last says and Azula's eyes flash in surprise. She has no idea how her mother could _know_.

"You've seen me for an hour at most," Azula says under her breath, not bothering to hide her contempt. "How would you be able to tell?"

"... well, am I wrong?" Ursa replies very calmly and Azula visualizes herself just choking her. Choking, choking, choking...

"No," Azula manages to reply, inhaling and exhaling to rid herself of her beautifully violent fantasy. "But I haven't told anyone yet and you better not."

Ursa touches her lips. "Do you know who the father is?"

_Your darling son_, is exactly what Azula wants to spit.

But she would not believe Azula. No one would.

"No," Azula replies coolly, before getting up and going to find her bodyguard.

Ursa rubs her face and does not know what to say.

* * *

Azula wakes from her nightmare completely paralyzed. She tries to scream and fight, her heart pounding and her body panicking and pleading. At last, she breaks free of the invisible grip and screams. Screams, and screams, and tears at her pillows until she has some semblance of control.

Ty Lee jolts awake and opens and closes her mouth weakly, unsure how to help. She just pulls Azula into her arms as soon as she finishes tearing up the blankets in her panic and rubs her back gently.

"I have to tell you something," Azula whispers into Ty Lee's neck as she takes a few calming breaths and tries to forget the brief and horrific experience.

"Anything," Ty Lee responds softly, rubbing Azula's back more passionately now.

"I'm pregnant," Azula whispers, swallowing. She expects Ty Lee to be angry, or to scream and shout. But she just falls completely and utterly silent.

"I see," she says, and Azula stares at her.

"I see? That's it?" Azula pulls away and sits with her chin resting on her knees.

Ty Lee shrugs, swallowing a lump in her throat. She knows she needs to be supportive of Azula, and she always did want a family. "Who's the father?"

"I don't know," Azula lies before picking up Ty Lee's hand and resting it in hers. Hesitation. She swallows.

"I watch you every second..." Ty Lee breathes, so confused. "Are you messing with me? I don't understand..."

"I probably... I probably won't even keep it," Azula breathes, feeling ridiculous, small and far from powerful. It makes her livid.

_Purely livid_.

And so she fiercely crushes her lips against Ty Lee's, digging her fingernails into her back. SHe attempts to force herself further but Ty Lee pushes her away.

The princess contemplates briefly striking out, but she is too tired, too weak, too sore.

Azula closes her eyes, but sleep does not come.

* * *

_"Don't make me repeat myself. I told you that I'm pregnant," Azula breathes, she and her brother in the doorway, leaning against each other, so close they can almost taste each other. Maybe they want to taste each other._

_"Is it...?" Zuko cannot even finish his sentence._

_"Yes," Azula whispers._

"What do we do?" Zuko demands as he and Azula are leaning close to each other beneath the arch of a door. He has not stopped panicking since the moment Azula revealed her pregnancy.

_It is his. It is his and he does not think he has a shred of honor in his body._

"I don't care," Azula murmurs, studying him closely. "I'm keeping it. Ty Lee... _if she ever finds out _that we've slept together, you will face consequences. She would leave me if she knew, and you know that."

"I have no intentions of telling anybody about what we did," Zuko says firmly and Azula can tell he is telling the truth. Why wouldn't he be?

"We'll talk about this in the morning," Azula says sharply and Zuko wants to protest, but he just sighs. Making her angry and then trying to force her to have a serious discussion is not going to do anyone any good.

She goes to retire beside her girlfriend and Zuko sighs again. He walks to his bedroom, dragging his feet, his heart and gut weighed down by the shame inside of him. He cannot believe he slept with her, that he touched her and did things with her. He feels like a monster.

Zuko has no honor.

And he _needs _to do something for the baby in order to alleviate some of the suffering he has caused. But exactly what, he has no clue.


	2. Chapter 2

Fire Lord Zuko is awake through the night without any reprieve.

The insomnia is sparked by his horrible situation of course. But he is not kept awake only by the worries about the child and what could happen because of that. There are more selfish reasons involved. He cannot sleep as he questions and questions the fabric of his existence. Zuko does not understand how he let this happen, how he did something so _wrong _when he always tries to do what is _right_. The worst part is that there is no one he can tell; there is no one who can help him work through this, because the only other person who knows is Azula.

And Zuko, despite his reservations and regrets, would prefer it if it stayed that way.

He knows that he is not the first person in his family history to make mistakes like that. He knows that his father certainly had a few. But this is wildly different, _wildly different_. Zuko thinks perhaps he should do something to claim the child, but he has no idea how he would explain that away.

Azula has refused to speak to him and he needs to know what _she _is intending, because right now, in this, _she _has the power. And the right to have that power, honestly. Even if Zuko is half-responsible, if not more so, Azula is the one who is stuck with the majority of the repercussions.

"What's bothering you so much?" Mai asks, rubbing her eyes. Zuko's heart pounds; he did not expect Mai to ask questions, seeing as she usually does not care. "So help me, if it's about your mother..."

"It's not..." Zuko hesitates for a moment, knowing Azula has told no one for a reason. _However_, it is as much his to tell as hers. "Azula told me something that I probably shouldn't repeat."

Mai sits up abruptly, unabashedly intrigued by that statement. "You can tell me. She's probably already told me it at some point."

Zuko groans quietly, before thinking that, _yes_, perhaps Azula _has _told Mai. He can use that in his defense if she tries to accuse him of threatening to reveal a very dangerous secret. The dishonorable notion of thinking of an excuse before the act makes him feel sick, but he does... _someone _needs to help.

"Azula is..." Zuko inhales and exhales. "Azula is pregnant."

Mai's eyes flicker with shock and Zuko does not think he has ever seen her so stunned. _Damn_, Azula did not tell her and now Zuko has made a complete dick move. Not his secret to tell... at least that part.

"Who's...? Who's the father?" Mai asks, befuddled by the thought. She does seem clueless about Zuko and Azula's situation, which is an extreme relief to the Fire Lord.

"I don't know." Zuko swallows and Mai conceals the fact that she knows he is lying. "But I think I should do something. Help her... or something..."

Mai stares at him, slinking back down under the blankets and trying to sort out the matter in her head. "I don't know what you're supposed to do. It's her problem and her choices."

"I am her guardian, right now, I mean..." and that thought makes Zuko cringe internally. It only makes it _more _fucked up somehow.

Mai lies down carefully, and decides to allow him to go through his thoughts without imposing her multitude of questions on him. She is not stupid.

When Zuko thinks about the fact that he has the same rights as her parent that he should be looking out for her and that does not include complacently allowing her to bed him.

_Is he complacent or is she complying? _Zuko wracks his brain, hoping, hoping and praying to every spirit of every element that he hasn't... He would know, he would know and it is something he would rather die than have done, and it isn't as if Azula would not...

* * *

_It is the dead of the night and Zuko cannot sleep; he simply stares at the ceiling as if it will give him answers. He is becoming gradually more and more preoccupied with the extent of the relationship he has developed with his sister, the young woman he has put more energy than she probably deserves into helping and healing her._

_ Zuko imagined, in the best of worlds, that they would return to when their family was happy. But instead it wound up becoming even more distorted than before. He cannot imagine that this is healthy, even if he has watched her health improve over time. _

_"Am I..." Zuko does not know how to voice this, but he _knows _that he has to do it. "Look, I'm... I have a certain level of authority ─" Azula interrupts him with a laugh. "I _have a certain level of authority_ and I'm concerned that I'm abusing it."_

_ Azula squints at him, rubbing her face and wondering why the fuck her brother woke her up to ramble nonsense. To Zuko, she actually looks confused, not just mocking him._

_ "I misunderstand. If anything, I'm exploiting and diminishing your authority over me," Azula says assuredly and Zuko feels relief. _

_ Unless she is lying. And now he just feels tangled and guilty again._

_ "Could I? If...?" Zuko has his tongue tangled again with no clue what to do with it._

_ "Did... did you just ask me if you could be a rapist?" Azula asks in disbelief. He, sweating, shrugs. "While I don't advise you to ask that regularly to any girls you may attempt to date. No. I don't think you could. I mean, physically, _definitely_, you would be capable, I guess. But you have too much of a sense of... hm, I don't know the word for it, but you strictly hold yourself to standards you create in a very confusing and unusual way. And your standards are pretty high. That's the lowest thing someone can do."_

_ Zuko clears his throat. "I hold... oh, you're saying I have a conscience?"_

_ "I don't know. It's not like I have one of those." Azula shrugs carelessly and Zuko does not know what he is supposed to be feeling right now. "But I do find it odd that the possibility of this being exploitation is more disturbing to you than the... all of the other reasons this is fucked up. Mainly the reason that we had the same parents..."_

_ Zuko scratches at his hand, a hand that had been all over her, his body quite tensed with the realizations that seem to only strike him _after _the act. His mind, his body, everything comes up with endless excuses when it begins, and during, but after all of those reasons abandon him._

_ But, he supposes, as long as he isn't hurting her... it certainly isn't hurting him._

* * *

Mai wonders if Zuko has any more to say. She remained silent, hoping her lack of speech would prompt him to start rambling out the truth. That tends to work whenever Zuko attempts to lie to her.

But he closes his eyes. "I don't know what to think right now," he admits, because it is the truth.

Somehow, Zuko does manage to sleep. Mai lies awake, however, deep into the night. She likes sleeping, she genuinely does, and she has never had much of a problem with it, unlike her boyfriend, who sometimes will just get out of bed in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat and start pacing, or leave, or something...

It concerns her, but the man has been through a lot in his life.

She is somewhat more concerned about why Azula did not bother to tell her that she was _pregnant_. Of all things, _pregnant_. That makes Mai toy with the blankets on her fingers, wondering why Azula would have any reason to conceal that.

Why Azula would have any reason not to have aborted it at the first possible chance.

It makes Mai uneasy, but, of course, she hides those emotions and pretends to sleep.

* * *

In the bright, orange and vermillion morning, Azula wakes and has almost forgotten her situation.

She does not feel significant morning sickness, yet perhaps it will strike her in the afternoon. Ty Lee is beside her, as she always is, and this morning, her feet are pressed gently against Azula's back as her body hangs halfway over the edge of her bed.

Azula is unsure what to think or feel as she slowly rises and decides to train before taking a shower. She has a private place in the courtyard, masked by so many overgrown walls and endless, untamed flowers. Princess Azula does not mind at all when she accidentally burns them; in fact, she quite likes the ashes and strong smell of smoke.

The princess is walking there when she is suddenly interrupted, the sweet, seductive drug of the dawn immediately torn from her veins. Mother. _Wonderful_. Azula would honestly love it if this woman would leave her alone.

"I didn't intentionally run into you," Ursa says before Azula can even open her mouth.

"Oh, so you think I'm crazy enough to accuse you of that?" Azula snarls feebly, wishing she had a more biting and wounding response.

"No, I don't think you're crazy," Ursa says and Azula just rolls her eyes in utter disbelief. Maybe Ursa is lying, or maybe not. She cannot quite tell, and it is early. "And I can just walk away right now if that makes both of us more comfortable."

Azula wants to agree to that, but then something hits her. "You don't plan on telling anyone about my... news, do you?"

"Of course not. I told you I didn't," Ursa says smoothly, fighting all of the urges within her to stop the _endless walking on hot coals with this girl. _"Can I ask what the odds are?"

"What odds? The odds my child will wind up a lunatic?" Those odds are definitely at one hundred percent, Azula is certain. She also imagines that is the very first thing Zuko will be thrust into a panic about.

"The odds of who the father is," Ursa inquires softly and Azula blinks.

She _imagined _that her mother would quickly drop the topic of Azula's _sex life_. The concept of being knocked up is not immensely disturbing to Azula; she does not mind it as much as she thought she would in the first two utterly panicked and insane days of knowing.

It is when people start _asking questions_...

"The palace has changed a good deal since you lived here. Things have changed in ways I disagree with, and ways I agree with," Azula says coolly, her tone as sharp as the brisk morning air. "But one thing has not changed; don't ask too many questions. Don't go poking into other people's business. I don't care if you gave birth to me; that wasn't my choice. And you have no right to question _anything _about the glorified parasite I intend to give birth to."

They are both silent after that. Ursa at last says, "I can see you want us to part ways. I'll be going. Have a nice morning."

Azula clenches her jaw and tries to walk away first but does not succeed. _Have a nice morning_. But she is definitely conniving. Probably conniving to have Azula's life taken away, or to coerce Zuko or get her locked back up in an asylum.

The usual presumptions.

Azula trains and feels vibrant and energized, her mind taken far away from the disturbing ramifications of being pregnant with her _brother's child_. The rote memorization and movements of her body were the first thing Zuko gently suggested that she try when she was first getting onto her feet.

* * *

_"You're not afraid that I'll use my evil bending to kill everyone?" Azula inquires, studying her big brother with a smirk on her lips._

_ "No. I think that you need to be treated as a human being and with respect." Respect _other than just offering tea like some kind of patronizing fool_, Zuko adds in his head. "And I think the sooner you start practicing bending again, the better you'll feel."_

_ "Hm." Azula cannot think of anything to counter with, or any decent words to hurt him with._

_ This does seem to be sickeningly in her best interest, as have all of his actions. But Azula will figure out his true intentions. She _will _know what he is really after if it is the last thing she does._

* * *

Azula comes inside and locks herself in her bathroom, passing the bodyguard who slept through the escape of her ward. It brings a little smile to Azula's lips. They cannot keep her down that easily.

Slowly, Ty Lee wakes and can hear Azula in the bath, can feel slight traces of hot steam pressing against her.

Ty Lee feels like a shadow-self sometimes. She heard many stories about shadow selves from her mother, who liked to tell stories, and Ty Lee was the only one of her sisters who cared to listen. It is funny, in the end, how Ty Lee wound up running away, wound up rarely returning and finding her family to all be strangers.

Maybe that further solidifies her introspection. _Shadow-self_. Ty Lee is bound to Azula and stuck, trapped, chained to her side. Ty Lee thinks that there was a point where she could have easily left at any time, taken her hefty payment from Zuko and funded a life for herself very far away. But now she is at the point of no return.

And it is _very _likely that Azula is aware of that.

The thing about shadow selves is, however, that they are not silent _shadows_. Ty Lee is not just attached to Azula, lurking in the corner and minding her own business as she tries to prevent any devastating incidents, murders, mental breakdowns or destructions of entire cities. The shadow self presents conflict to its owner; it watches at all times, it listens constantly, and it understands.

It understands, but it often does not agree. She sometimes thinks that that joint existence, yet the many disagreements and conflicts between them, are why Ty Lee may be the push that Azula needs to change.

Zuko just stands there, often, expecting Azula to fly.

But she has yet to untangle her wings.

"What are you thinking about?" interrupts the sudden voice of the princess. Ty Lee jumps, her nails nicking the side of her face as she recoils. Azula stares for some time. "You just disappear like that. You're upset about this, aren't you? You're angry or jealous."

Ty Lee wavers. "I'm not angry or jealous. I'm a little... confused and hurt. That's all."

"It isn't as if..." Azula stops talking and Ty Lee hides her pleasure. The princess does think twice before twisting nasty words at Ty Lee, and the girl, bodyguard, shadow self, friend or lover quite likes that.

"It isn't as if we've developed our relationship very far," Ty Lee says confidently and Azula purses her lips. She does not like it when her girlfriend reveals her intelligence that she tends to keep masked. "But we have time for that. Plenty of time for that."

Azula gazes intently at the window, refusing to make eye contact with Ty Lee. Perhaps it would have upset the bodyguard at one point, but she has become so much stronger over the years.

"I want that with you," Azula says slowly, and she has to admit she still struggles to say it, even after all of her practicing. The only person she _does _care about in this horrific prison of a home other than herself is Ty Lee, and so help her, she knows that if Ty Lee found out that Azula has been lying and fucking her own brother behind her back... it will end.

Azula will not give this up.

Not for Zuko.

Not for the baby inside of her.

Not for anything.

* * *

Zuko and Azula sit down for their first and hopefully only discussion about their situation and its various ramifications. Azula clasps her hands on her lap, her legs crossed. Zuko tries to maintain his straight and strong posture of a Fire Lord.

"I want my baby to be your heir," Azula demands, and Zuko's jaw drops. He did not imagine she would start making demands so quickly, nor that it would be _that_.

"I don't know how I can do that. I don't..." _I don't know if I want to do that._

"Mmm, so it's not good enough?" Azula asks and Zuko steels himself to not be pulled in by this. Her words are like a whirlpool at sea. "It's yours too, but no one has to know. No one has to know so long as it will be Fire Lord one day. That's not a difficult or harmful arrangement..."

"It _is _difficult. How am I supposed to explain that?" Zuko demands, taking a deep breath. His eyes keep gravitating towards her stomach, which is still flat, and then he quickly tries to look away. She can see his discomfort, and she needs to exploit it.

"Perhaps the way you explain yourself to your little friends and your _girlfriend_. You're just trying to innocently help your broken little sister," Azula says sweetly, looking so _pleased _with herself that Zuko could demand a fight here in the parlor.

Not that he could fight a pregnant woman. That would be _horrible_.

But Zuko is finding that he considers himself to be a horrible person of late.

"I want to make some demands as well," Zuko says confidently and Azula leans back, turning up her palm and welcoming them.

She does love a good negotiation.


	3. Chapter 3

"I am legally adopting Azula," Zuko says firmly and everyone he has called to oversee the invaluable legal documents is stunned. "With my father in prison and a disgrace, and my mother unfit to care for her, I would like to have rights as her father. They are very important to me, in securing a bright future for the Fire Nation."

The bespectacled lawyer examines the documents, and the silent notary seems to take great interest as well.

"You do realize that this would make her a legitimate heir of yours? The Avatar and other nations would never agree," says the lawyer, genuinely concerned about the concept.

"My sister is pregnant," Zuko says, and they look even more stunned. One man whispers something about her preference for bedding women, and Zuko has to take several deep, clear breaths to keep from punching him in the face. "And since she has no legal rights over the child, and I want to take responsibility for her. As her legal father, her child would be the first in line for the throne, as the Fire Lord's eldest grandchild, granted that his or her child is unfit mentally or physically."

They cannot argue with law, and they all are aware of how many other legal protections he has set up for Azula, under the table. He clearly cares deeply for his sister, and Azula has become beloved by the Fire Nation, and mostly stable again.

"Your wish is our command. You already do have guardianship over her, under direct executive order of the Avatar. However, to adopt her as your child, and therefore make her child heir apparent, you will need your parents to both agree to relinquish their rights over her, in order to avoid any mishaps or problems when it comes to the crown. Not to mention respect for the Fire Nation legal system. While you are Fire Lord, and you make good points about your parents, the fact of legitimizing an heir must be meticulously done to avoid any ability to protest. They must willingly give up their rights," the lawyer says as he studies Fire Lord Zuko curiously.

"Is there anything else that's necessary?" Zuko asks, his stomach already churning at getting Ursa or Ozai to both agree to that. He and Azula will need a decent case, one that preferably does not involve an incestuous relationship of many years.

"If you want her child to be a legitimate heir, she must be legitimately your child, and her child must be legitimately royal. Therefore, have to marry at least six months before baby is born," say the legal representatives and Zuko tries not to cringe at the last part.

Who would _marry _Azula? Zuko has no clue. Oh, he does realize, with a sinking sensation in his stomach, that there is one person alive who would marry Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, and winning her over will not be easy.

Not to mention the sensation Zuko has within him when he thinks about Azula, Ty Lee and how they do not hide their physical relationship. They are open about how they divulge in ecstatic sex, and it makes Zuko jealous.

Yes, jealousy is the feeling of the monster trying to burst out of his chest.

Jealousy, because he wants Azula to be his alone, and that idea frightens him.

"So, there's no way around that requirement?" Zuko asks, knowing that there likely isn't. And also knowing that he has to toe the line so that nothing comes off as suspicious.

"No. I would advise getting the parental rights out of the way as quickly as possible, and it would best be left up to her to wed, unless you have plans for an arranged marriage contract," the lawyer says and Zuko cannot shake his head hard enough about the idea of an arranged marriage.

Azula would not take kindly to that at all.

* * *

Azula is focused intently on work when Zuko walks in. His body is awash with relief when he sees that she is not with Ty Lee, and that will make this conversation much easier.

"What is it?" Azula asks coldly and Zuko bites his lip before sitting down across from her.

"You said you needed your baby to be legitimate," Zuko says quietly and Azula cocks an eyebrow. "And so I've put adopting you into motion."

"Repeat that," Azula says starkly, her mouth open slightly, as if she has forgotten to close it.

"I adopted you," Zuko says firmly just as Azula seems to have realized the information. She squints at him. "I adopted you so that your child could be the rightful heir. That was what you said you wanted."

"You can't just _adopt _me. Can you? I have some kind of say in this, don't I?" Azula says quietly, and Zuko is baffled. He is giving her exactly what she _wants_, and she manages to find a problem with it?

"Azula, it's the only way," Zuko says insistently. "Unless you don't want that part of our agreement. I looked and looked for any loopholes, but unless you want to indulge in the dead practice of incestuous marriage…"

Azula laughs, because the concept is ridiculous. Zuko wishes he could laugh, but his head is weighed down by all that he needs to face.

"Fine. I'll do whatever you need. You already are my legal guardian; I don't care if you want to be my father," Azula says, shrugging. "But I have no idea what your relation to the child will be. Grandfather and father? You will become a father twice this year. How lovely."

Zuko clenches his jaw at the mockery, because, while most of Azula's barbed comments are for her own sadistic pleasure, he can see in her golden eyes that she is making fun of the situation because she is frightened.

It would be easier to have an abortion, but if she wants the child…

"We do, however, need mother and father to both agree to relinquish their rights over you," Zuko says, straightening his shoulders and trying to remain dignified. He knows her wrath will come next.

"They never would. Father is in prison, without his bending, and he can't possibly have that right."

"He's still human. And he still has that right."

"Mother abandoned me and replaced me with another daughter. She can't have a say either," Azula snaps and Zuko seriously regrets what he is forced to say next.

"You also have to get married before you're six months pregnant. How far in are you?" Zuko says as quickly as possible. He needs to stay strong, but the thoughts invading his mind are making that extremely difficult.

Azula rubs her face. She _wants _her baby to be the heir so much. It is a desire she _needs_. The idea of at least having the pain she went through be worth something is something she cannot deny. This baby, this baby could be Fire Lord, and Azula could help it be the best Fire Lord in history.

"I'll talk to Ty Lee. You talk to mother. This afternoon I will go to father if you give me permission to leave the palace," Azula says cleanly, clasping her hands on the table in front of her. They are slightly stained with ink, and Zuko wants to touch them before remembering himself.

"Agreed," Zuko says, glad Azula has her head on at least partially straight.

* * *

Zuko confronts Ursa, and he is not sure what he wants to say, or what the right thing to say _is _in the first place. She is sitting, out to lunch ─ he chose a public place because she is aware of manners, and he knows she will not react angrily here ─ and so he sits across from her and strikes up small talk. Asks her how she and her family are doing.

They have just finished their appetizers when Zuko decides to move in for the throat.

"I've decided to legally adopt Azula," he says and she furrows her brow, befuddled.

"Why? You don't have reason to," Ursa says and Zuko frowns. He wonders if she knows that Azula is pregnant, but he supposes that she is about to find out.

"She's pregnant, and I want to do the right thing for her. I want her child to be the heir."

"_Zuko_, I love you and her both, but that right is for your child, and not hers. Her child can have its chance as second in line," Ursa says hurriedly as if it is a personal offense to her.

"You don't understand, mother. And I don't expect you to. My relationship with Azula has grown, and I'm close to her now. I feel like I will be the main paternal figure in her child's life, especially if she stays with Ty Lee. They're discussing marriage, now that they're faced with a baby." That last part is a lie, but hopefully it won't be by tomorrow. "I see no reason not to accept it as my grandchild. It's not a huge deal to me, not as much as it was to father or grandfather. Uncle taught me better than that."

"Taught you what?" Ursa asks weakly, looking at her food and realizing how much she has lost her appetite.

"Taught me that you don't have to be a child's father in order to love it like your own," Zuko says, lying again and feeling guilty. But those words _are _true, and they seem to sway her.

"I only ask for one thing. I'm willing to give you my rights over her, because, while I love her, I think she would be happier that way. I want you to have her mental state evaluated and make sure she isn't a danger to her child, and make sure that the pregnancy isn't a danger to her or anyone else."

Zuko can understand that, although he doubts Azula will like it very much. "Thank you. I'm sure it's hard to do this, because of you and Azula's past."

"I think the best way I can make up for my mistakes is to do what's right for her. If you both think it's the right thing to do, I'm perfectly happy. She's an adult now anyway, and I would've given it up if she weren't in her… situation. But I do require the evaluations. I won't…" Ursa trails off.

"What is it?" Zuko asks, hoping he is not stepping overboard.

"When I had her, I had some issues that I wish someone had worked through with me. I also don't want to gain a grandchild, and then lose it to its own mother."

"Azula wouldn't kill her own baby," Zuko says vehemently and Ursa smiles at him, envying how he still manages to think the best in people, despite all he has been through in his life.

* * *

Meanwhile, Azula takes Ty Lee to their favorite date spot. She has nothing romantic planned, seeing as she only had a few hours to throw it together. Ty Lee holds her hand contentedly as Azula buys her trinkets and candy that they share.

They have been dating ever since Ty Lee was hired by Zuko, almost. It went quite quickly from Ty Lee watching Azula sleep to Ty Lee sleeping naked beside Azula. And no one complained, because it only meant that Ty Lee would be welcomed by Azula instead of spurned.

It is quite funny to have a bodyguard with you who is not meant to protect you, but is meant to protect the people _around you_.

"I'm so happy we're leaving the palace," Ty Lee says eagerly, clinging more tightly to Azula. "It's been _so long_. I really did think my muscles would atrophy."

"We could work out, you know?" Azula purrs, trying to be flirtatious but just feeling tired. She had a nasty morning thanks to her new parasite.

"So, why are you doing something so fun with me?" Ty Lee asks, waggling her eyebrows.

"Because, well," Azula says, sighing and shifting from foot to foot. "I know this isn't romantic or how you imagined it, I'm sure. And I will gladly give the best proposal in the history of all of time after this but," and Azula is kneeling, in the middle of the Ruby District. "Ty Lee, will you marry me?"

Breathless. Ty Lee is breathless and overwhelmed. People are staring as Ty Lee feels tears on her face and wonders why. This is the least romantic marriage proposal she has ever imagined, but seeing Azula looking at her like that, is _everything_.

She helps Azula to her feet and pulls her into a tight, sensual kiss.

"Of course." Ty Lee is quiet for a moment. "I'm stuck with you anyway. We might as well get married."

Ty Lee knows, deep down, that it is about the baby. But she is sure that Azula needs the support, and needs not to face the stigma of being an unwed mother. And Ty Lee is willing to help her with that, so long as Azula follows through on her promised romantic proposal.

Azula spends the rest of the day with her, being even more charming than usual.

Hopefully, Ty Lee will never have to learn the reality of the situation.

* * *

That afternoon, Azula goes to visit Ozai. Her hands are still warm from Ty Lee, and her hair still smells of the fire fountains and perfumes of the boutique shops in the Diamond District. Now, she is in the clean, metallic prison that houses the man who she loved more than anyone else. Yet, also the man who drove her into madness, Zuko's arms and ultimate ruin.

She imagines getting him to relinquish any of his rights and give them to Zuko is going to be a much harder sell than asking Ty Lee to marry her.

She takes a deep breath and walks in to see her father, legal papers tucked under her arm.

This _must _go right.


	4. Chapter 4

Due to the need for the emancipation of Princess Azula for her brother to adopt her, she has gone to her father to request the papers signed. Although he is imprisoned for war crimes and has no _real _rights over her parentage, in the royal family, if he wanted to protest or contest her child's right for the throne, he could if he disproved her relation as Zuko's adopted daughter.

It sickens her, but the only reason she is doing _anything _at this point is so that her child can have the dream she was never able to achieve.

The princess is led to an actual visiting room, although he is exceptionally guarded and behind metal bars despite not posing any threat to Azula. She sits, wishing the chair were more comfortable, and their golden eyes meet wordlessly for a moment.

"Good evening, father," Azula purrs as the guards watch anxiously.

Ozai's eyes flicker up to her. "You haven't visited in so long. I was almost getting lonely."

"I hear you actually get visits from fans," Azula remarks honestly, venom in her voice.

"I care much less about them than I care about my own daughter," he says coolly and Azula just shrugs. "What is it you need from me?"

Azula passes him the papers and leans back, pushing in the pen and ink the guards gave her, since apparently she could hide some kind of knife or escape method in a bottle of ink and slender pen? It does not matter in the end, even though she _hates _the mistrust constantly directed at her.

"I don't think I even have parental rights over you," he comments with a scrutinizing gaze. "Supposing I actually do, why would I want to relinquish any more of my human rights?"

The princess purses her lips for a moment, carefully controlling the flow of her breathing.

"I'm pregnant," she manages to admit, even though the words do not want to leave her tongue.

His eyes flash, the confusion evident. She can almost see the process of his thoughts as she formulates rebuttals based on what he is most likely to say.

"Why would you keep it? Last time I checked you weren't married. Last time I checked you were too crazy to even be reprimanded for your crimes. What makes you sane enough to have a _child_?"

"What made _you _sane enough to have a child? I am fairly certain that no matter what I do, I will not traumatize my child or permanently _mutilate _them on a whim." Azula snaps before chastising herself silently. That was knee-jerk and ridiculous. "Mother is insisting that I get a psychological evaluation before she signs the papers. I would be offended if I had the energy to continue hating you both..."

He drums his fingers on the table, easily seeing that he has the edge in the negotiation. He has what she wants and there is no way that Ozai will not make her jump through a thousand hoops in order to get it.

"Why are you so dead set on your child not being my grandchild? Are you so ashamed?" he demands and Azula realizes she was so angry at him thinking _she _was the unfit parent in the room that she did not explain.

"I've convinced Zuko to adopt me, which would make my child the rightful heir to the throne," Azula says, expecting him to be livid about giving up another right to Zuko.

But he is just silent for a moment, before laughing, leaving Azula moderately confused.

At last, the former Fire Lord explains, "That poor gullible boy. What did you tell him? That you always thought of him as a _real _father figure because I was just so cruel? Or that you were afraid of taking care of a baby alone?"

Azula smirks, knowing that the last thing she should say is that it is because the child _is _Zuko's.

"I'm not trading my secrets of deception," Azula purrs and Ozai moves to sign the papers.

"You haven't lost your limitless ambition. I like that."

Her stomach churns with the hard-to-swallow fact that she likes her father's compliment.

He hands the signed papers to her in silence, and she leaves without another word.

* * *

Azula finds her brother as soon as she returns home and passes him the papers.

"You shouldn't have gone without Ty Lee," is the first thing he says and Azula frowns. "Showing up to visit our father without your bodyguard or anyone else, for that matter, is going to make people worry."

"Perhaps I was quite aware that our father would be much less lenient if he saw me abiding by your restrictions on me," Azula says primly and Zuko just looks at the paperwork. "He said yes."

"I thought he'd make it hard on us," Zuko says and Azula looks at the table for a moment in contemplation.

"There is no us," she remarks, and it is the last she will say of the matter.

She is marrying Ty Lee. Zuko is adopting her as a _child_ of his. She is marrying Ty Lee.

Maybe he should get on with Mai already.

* * *

Bored and toying with a nail file, Azula sits with Ty Lee and listen to her talk about the wedding. It was a very clever move, and Azula has to admit she probably would have done it at some point eventually. But now, it serves as the perfect distraction. Right now, it is the only thing Ty Lee can think about, and her mind is miles away from the baby that was making her feel so hurt and angry.

"I really want a ring," Ty Lee admits. "_Matching ones_, actually. Your proposal was horrible, but I know that you can get me the rings I want."

Azula nods. "I'm sure it wasn't quite appropriate to propose empty handed."

"Honestly, I would so much rather be married to you than be your exasperated bodyguard."

"Instead you'll be my exasperated wife," Azula says with a small smirk.

"And wedding planning means that we can leave the palace," Ty Lee says blithely.

Azula weakly nods.

She honestly never imagined getting married out of sheer desperation. Or marrying because she was carrying an illegitimate child.

But, nonetheless, she must admit that she is glad of who she is marrying. She has always loved Ty Lee, even if she tries not to admit it.

Ty Lee and Azula go to buy rings together, and Ty Lee looks so happy. Happier than usual, at least. No longer complaining about how frustrating Azula is, or how she is afraid that her muscles will atrophy.

It makes Azula feel a strange, panging sensation. She hates it, hates how she feels _bad _when she is doing something that should make her feel good. The fact that she knows if Ty Lee ever finds out about Zuko it would be a certain problem.

Somehow, it is definitely more comfortable for her bodyguard to think that it is from some nameless man that she never has to meet than a man she sees every day. A man she trusted. Her fiancée's _brother _at that.

Despite Azula's control freak nature that is Ty Lee's secondary complaint outside of being an unwilling shut-in, Ty Lee seems to pick up on the discomfort and gives Azula more control than she genuinely needs, although with loud input on the right kind of stone and metal.

* * *

Since the night with Ursa, Azula has avoided Mai at all costs, but she winds up stuck alone in a room with her, with no escape.

"I had to find out from Zuko that you're pregnant," Mai says as she is peeling the charcoal off of a pen that was lying around to make it pointed. Her ivory hands are blackened from it, and it somehow makes everything seem darker.

"It's not something I want everyone to know," Azula says quickly and Mai purses her lips. "How much did he tell you? _How much_?"

"I don't know," Mai says slowly, setting down the half-pointed art tool and wiping her hands on the antique sofa. "You sound like this is a lot more serious than an unplanned pregnancy. I bet Ty Lee was pissed off until you gave her that huge rock as a pacifier to shut her up."

"It wasn't..." Azula sighs; she has no need to lie to Mai about the engagement being a way to make Ty Lee less upset and jealous and angry, as she admitted to being. "I have no comment about my pregnancy until I find out how much Zuko said."

"That sounds like you're ready to lie..." Mai sighs.

Azula licks her lips and contemplates what the most strategic move would be.

"Did he tell you who the father is?" she asks softly, thinking that perhaps Zuko has too much of a conscience to even lie about this.

"No," Mai says. "But I'd like to know why you told him first."

The princess grinds her teeth for a moment before deciding to slit the throat of the dragon.

"Because he _is _the father."


	5. Chapter 5

Mai clearly does not know how to react to what Azula just told her.

She knows that she had been frustrated about how Azula had told Zuko before Mai. It made sense, Mai supposes, to evade at all costs telling Ty Lee, but _Mai_. They had spent so much time surpassing enemies and becoming friends.

Now it all makes sense, but Mai is not sure if she should throw up or what, but she winds up just staring, and eventually, nodding.

"Do you believe me?" Azula inquires softly and Mai nods again. "And you will not tell Ty Lee under any circumstances?"

Mai is still speechless, still trying to process that information. She is filled with questions, but she isn't sure if she wants the answers, and most of all, she just wants to grab Zuko by the shirt, push him against the wall and force him to answer her.

Because clearly, he had been sleeping with Azula while they were together.

The incest would not be surprising given their family history; they used to marry their sisters after all. _But _the cheating, Mai does not think she can tolerate.

"I... why are you keeping that baby if it's your brother's?" Mai manages to say.

"Because I've made my mind up about it. I want the child." Azula then sits there uncomfortably, unsure how she just managed to say aloud that she was fucking Zuko. "It will be Fire Lord one day."

Mai licks her lips. "And that explains why Zuko is adopting you. Because it's his baby and if Zuko has any flaws ─"

"Endless. Endless flaws," Azula interjects, trying to be snarky, but her hands are shaking. The fact that she just revealed that is taking a toll on her.

"Right. Is his guilty conscience. He'd do anything to feel better about knocking his little sister up," Mai says coldly and she realizes that, while, maybe Azula does want a baby, it might be more likely that she is seizing leverage.

Mai does wonder how it started, but she is saving her questions for her boyfriend.

* * *

Azula sighs bitterly as she is walked to this horrid office. She isn't _crazy_ and she does not need anyone _psychoanalyzing _her anymore. It is fully absurd that mother even thinks she has _any _rights over her daughter. Father may be a war criminal, but he at least raised her.

But, all the same, any ties to mother could easily jeopardize her baby's legitimacy for the throne. And so Azula is going to do so at all costs. She will wed Ty Lee, she will be adopted by Zuko, and she will also try to manage whatever this is going to do to her little family.

She does sit down, and brush her hair out of her face, clasping her hands on her lap. Azula looks powerful, and she knows it. She also knows that this woman has braced herself for the princess, which pleases Azula.

Azula does quite love that expression of revulsion and dread.

"What do I have to say to get you to allow me to leave with your stamp of approval?" Azula inquires primly, leaning into her chair with her shoulders rolled back. "Honestly, we both know that this will be a magnificent waste of time."

The therapist bites down gently on her lip. She had absolutely been warned by Fire Lord Zuko that Azula was not interested in anyone trying to analyze her thoughts. And that her words were more dangerous than her lightning.

"It's not a huge problem at all. I'm sure you're a very fit mother."

"Right. So, there you go. Sign off to make my mother happy," Azula says, sighing. This is the most pointless waste of time she can think of, and it only makes her hate Ursa more.

"Let's just talk a little bit. I, uh..." _am not prepared for this_.

* * *

Azula leaves eventually, mostly due to the fact that it is beyond easy to cheat these tests. If the Fire Nation was going to _lose _so horribly in the end, perhaps they should have invested more money in healing and education instead of advanced weapons.

Zuko and mother are waiting, locked in quiet conversation. Azula sees her brother and something stirs inside of her. It isn't an actual movement of the baby; it is a reminder that it is his. A reminder that Azula is doing an awful lot to keep her brother's baby.

No, it's certainly just because Azula has been given a wonderful chance to be able to give her child the throne.

No, it's certainly not because Azula actually likes the idea of the two of them having a little family.

"I passed the test," Azula declares, sitting at the same table as them.

Ursa reads it a thousand times before even glancing at the documentation. Apparently, she does not trust the princess. Because emancipating her daughter is not something Azula is sure she has wished for since before Azula was even born.

She does at last sign everything, but with an expression of _sadness_. Father ─ father who _loved _Azula ─ didn't even look like that.

So that prods Azula to speak.

"Mother, may I point out something?" Azula says quietly the moment Ursa passes her the signed documents. The ink is still shining and fresh.

"I suppose." Concern. She looks concerned.

"No one gave you any psychological tests to see if you were a fit parent. In fact, I am sure that if someone as crazy as I am could pass this, you might be able to. But it wasn't a very good sign at all, was it?" Azula waits but Ursa does not bite. "I understand you want to be careful... or that you're making sure I'm not having this baby to further my political agenda... much like father. Who was, in my opinion, an excellent parent."

Zuko looks uncomfortable as he says, "Please just take the papers..." but she does not listen.

"I think we really just will have to wait and see if that supposed maternal rush is replaced by completely misplaced resentment for an infant."

Nothing. She does not even respond. And Azula can usually _get her _with that, because, while Ursa has hardened herself quite quickly to her daughter, she does have that constant nagging wonder if her daughter remembered that. Remembered that coldness and misery, despite everyone assuring Ursa that it would work out.

"You just got your dream," mother says calmly and Azula does not like how she is behaving. "I am no longer your mother. You don't have anything to prove about me anymore."

She leaves. She _leaves_.

Azula is left speechless, and it would be funny to Zuko if it were not so sad.

* * *

Zuko comes home from a very long meeting, and finds Mai waiting for him in the most intimidating of ways. She is sitting, calmly, in a chair in the living quarters, staring at the door. Waiting... presumably for him.

His heart starts pounding out of control. This is going to be about Azula. This is going to be about Azula. This is going to be about Azula.

"Your sister told me something interesting," Mai says calmly and Zuko suddenly notices the knife she is twisting in the leather of the chair. She does it absentmindedly nonstop, and it probably isn't meant to be threatening, but it certainly feels like it.

"Yes?" Zuko says with a slow sigh. "It's about the baby. Mai, I wasn't... I'm _sorry_. It just got out of control. I was helping her, and helping her get better and it just _happened _and I am so sorry."

Mai looks at him, and how a very strong man looks about to cry or scream or just sit down and give up. Yes, he brought it on himself, by sleeping with Azula, but she does now have a hard time remaining threatening and angry.

"How is that helping her get better?" Mai demands and Zuko doesn't know. He doesn't know.

"I didn't force her or coerce her. _Ever_. You know that, right? I..." He tries to explain but she stands there, so certain she is going to burst into more emotions than him, and so she turns away in confusion and leaves before she can let feelings overwhelm her for the first time.

Zuko sits down and sighs.

* * *

Azula is awake in the night, as usual.

Zuko is also awake in the night, as usual.

They bump into each other, but things do not get hot and heavy as they usually do.

"Mai went to go sort herself out at an inn or something?" Azula inquires with a malevolent sparkle in her eyes.

Zuko swallows. "This is over now, right? I mean, that pregnancy is a wake-up call that our actions have consequences."

"Oh, ZuZu, don't say _that_. I don't believe in consequences for my actions." She smirks faintly. "I mean, sure, we can break it off, but I'm sure you'll be quite lonely now that your girlfriend has left."

Zuko takes a slow, deep breath. "Why aren't you horrified?"

"I fear nothing," Azula says confidently, despite how untrue it is.

"I'm... I've made a decision, and I think that I got the short end in our negotiations, so hear me out." Zuko waits for her to nod, and she does, albeit with a brief roll of her eyes. "I want to be involved in this with you."

"Oh, wow, will we be playing house then? Raising a little family?"

It is then that he realizes it isn't her usually mockery. This isn't bringing her the pleasure and control rush that she always does it for. She is scared. Azula is clearly very scared, and Zuko is too.

They can see that in each other's eyes.

The silence is very strange, as is the sensation they both have. A unity over something. A sole thing shared aside from blood and history.

Zuko moves to kiss her first, and Azula is not sure if that has ever happened.

His lips are hard against hers, and his hand slides behind her back. If this is how mature, adult Fire Lord Zuko copes with fear, perhaps Azula should scare him more often.

He does not let go, and she does not want him to.

* * *

Ty Lee is pacing the next morning, and immediately, the princess presumes that Mai could not keep her mouth shut. Last night Ty Lee was passed out, but now she is clearly very alert, and has clearly received ill news.

Ill news perhaps like an incestuous affair going on behind her back.

But, fortunately, Ty Lee says, "I just found out that I got this house in a will."

"Mhm?" Azula already does not like where this is going.

Ty Lee crosses her arms and looks like she is thinking.

"Well, I want to go check it out. It's not like, I mean, of course we'll live in the palace, but it might be nice. I haven't been there in a million years." Then she hesitates, scrunching up her nose. "Ugh, but I still have nightmares about this stairway that went to nowhere, but my creepy old aunt decided to decorate it with like all kinds of freaky monkey dolls and pictures. _Every _kind of monkey!"

Ty Lee shivers and Azula shrugs. The princess does not want to leave the palace; it is, in fact, the absolute last thing on earth she wants to do. _But _on the other hand, it might be interesting to have an excuse to leave her eternal prison.

"I'll go with you." Azula shrugs and Ty Lee claps excitedly.

With that, Ty Lee moves to her fiancee and kisses her on the lips.

But Azula can still taste her brother, and she begins to wonder exactly why his felt better to her.

Now that is much more frightening than a staircase decorated with monkey memorabilia.


	6. Chapter 6

The house is not ugly, but it is not attractive either.

This indecisiveness has seemed to rule Azula's life of late, and she is getting extremely tired of it. Then again, her life has been requiring her to make decisions that most people would never _have _to make. On the other hand, most people never sleep with their brothers.

Ty Lee has vision; Azula does not think she shares it.

"We won't be doing this _ourselves_, will we?" Azula asks, clearing her throat.

Laughing, sweetly laughing, sickening, like sugar, like a sugar that on one hand Azula desires but on the other...

"Obviously not. Okay, well, I got a lot of people to help, but I do want to... I want to supervise so that nothing goes wrong. I have a _serious _idea for how this is going to go," Ty Lee says with a very fierce gleam in her eyes.

Azula shrugs. "It seems better than Caldera."

No, no it doesn't. Azula would much rather be in Caldera, especially when she feels so ill and dreadful, but she is quite strictly and legally not allowed to be removed from Ty Lee or another adequate substitute, and she knows that Zuko will try to talk about how confused he is and then punch things for a while because they kissed last night.

This weird, rural home seems preferable to dealing with any of that.

She feels queasy.

"Wanna see the monkeys?" Ty Lee asks with a grin.

Well, Azula has to say that she can't find anything unappealing about that.

* * *

Azula makes a list, while she is sitting around, extremely bored, and watching this annoying renovation go on. She has no idea why Ty Lee actually cares, except maybe because of the fact that she has _happy _childhood memories, like some kind of sick freak.

Ty Lee gave her a notebook and a pen, like she was a child. Azula starts making a list.

_Reasons Why I Am Dating Ty Lee:_

_ 1\. She is very attractive_

_ 2\. I like how she looks a good deal_

_ 3\. She crushes others with their miserable envy of how amazing I am to have it all, including such a flawless girlfriend_

_ 4\. She crushes Zuko with his miserable envy of how amazing I am to have it all, including such a flawless girlfriend_

* * *

"I do not care what she is paying you for. You are going to do exactly as I say because I am pregnant with the heir to the Fire Nation and do you want to cross the heir to the Fire Nation before they are even born?" Azula says to the very concerned young man with the paint-stained work clothes.

"... no?" He squints at her and she rolls her eyes.

Peasants. "No. You don't. If that is too complex of an idea for you to grasp, you do not want to cross me at all, because I don't want to be here. I am very bored, and have nothing to lose if accidents are to happen, and I assure you those accidents will be swept under that hideous rug."

"... yes?"

And when Azula's mouth opens, Ty Lee says from across the room, "Agni, Azula just slip him a bribe."

"Maybe you should have brought me more activities if you didn't want your servants' lives threatened!" Azula shrieks before throwing one of the two pens at the wall and leaving an ink spot.

Ty Lee just sighs, and knows that the princess is not at her most eloquent right now.

* * *

Azula disappears after her outburst and receiving her quite elaborate pomegranate juice _without a bribe thank you very much_, to some annex, and once she realizes how unlike her composed, royal self she has been this afternoon, she starts to realize just how casual Ty Lee is being.

The princess had presumed that perhaps Ty Lee was trying to isolate Azula to get answers about the baby out of her.

_Reasons Why I Am Dating Ty Lee:_

_ 1\. She is very attractive_

_ 2\. I like how she looks a good deal_

_ 3\. She crushes others with their miserable envy of how amazing I am to have it all, including such a flawless girlfriend_

_ 4\. She crushes Zuko with his miserable envy of how amazing I am to have it all, including such a flawless girlfriend_

_ 5\. She doesn't ask a lot of questions_

_ 6\. She doesn't ask me to do very much either_

_ 7\. I have wanted her since we were young, and I at last have her fully mesmerized and under my romantic control. This makes me..._

_ 8\. She is very attractive_

* * *

Ty Lee looks up, looks at Azula melting a stick made for mixing paint that she probably has never seen before, and promptly realizes exactly what has happened.

It's cute.

Probably a really awful sign in a relationship. But cute.

* * *

Azula, covered in inexplicable paint and now hiding with the monkeys because she knows Ty Lee will not follow her there due to her crippling and easy to exploit fear, adds to her list.

_Reasons Why I Am Dating Ty Lee:_

_ 1\. She is very attractive_

_ 2\. I like how she looks a good deal_

_ 3\. She crushes others with their miserable envy of how amazing I am to have it all, including such a flawless girlfriend_

_ 4\. She crushes Zuko with his miserable envy of how amazing I am to have it all, including such a flawless girlfriend_

_ 5\. She doesn't ask a lot of questions_

_ 6\. She doesn't ask me to do very much either_

_ 7\. I have wanted her since we were young, and I at last have her fully mesmerized and under my romantic control. This makes me..._

_ 8\. She is very attractive_

_ 9\. Because if anyone else had her I would most certainly have them murdered_

_ 10\. Or murder them_

_ 11\. Or perhaps ruin their relationship in a much more elaborate and interesting way because murder has so little flair and just anyone off the street can do it._

_ 12\. I am not certain why I would do this. But today I have mixed a bucket of paint because I saw someone look at her the wrong way. Murder would be preferable._

* * *

Azula stares at a painting as she moves to lie down in the master bedroom with Ty Lee. She has agreed to spend the night, because traveling sounds terrible with the heir she will soon live vicariously through making her suffer before she is able to do so. Ty Lee is gazing at a painting with an attention span that Azula has never seen before.

"What even is that?" Azula asks. It isn't an _ugly _painting, but it is not particularly stunning either. And it is too plain to be Ty Lee's style.

"It's from that spirit myth. The water girl is pulling her hand away from the phoenix in love with her, because the water girl knows that he's going to die if he gets wet and goes with her," Ty Lee says and Azula rolls her eyes. "It's a romantic metaphor I like. It reminds me of... A lotta people wanted to cure you or fix you or ignore you. I didn't. 'Cause I love you."

"You think our love is legendary? How adorable."

"I like this room. I think we should stay here if we ever live here."

"We'll never live here," because Azula is only _doing this _so that she can raise the next Fire Lord.

Not so she can raise a little family with her childhood sweetheart.

* * *

When Azula wakes up from her nightmares, she sits in the moonlight with a little help from blue fire and adds to her list.

_Reasons Why I Am Dating Ty Lee:_

_ 1\. She is very attractive_

_ 2\. I like how she looks a good deal_

_ 3\. She crushes others with their miserable envy of how amazing I am to have it all, including such a flawless girlfriend_

_ 4\. She crushes Zuko with his miserable envy of how amazing I am to have it all, including such a flawless girlfriend_

_ 5\. She doesn't ask a lot of questions_

_ 6\. She doesn't ask me to do very much either_

_ 7\. I have wanted her since we were young, and I at last have her fully mesmerized and under my romantic control. This makes me..._

_ 8\. She is very attractive_

_ 9\. Because if anyone else had her I would most certainly have them murdered_

_ 10\. Or murder them_

_ 11\. Or perhaps ruin their relationship in a much more elaborate and interesting way because murder has so little flair and just anyone off the street can do it._

_ 12\. I am not certain why I would do this. But today I have mixed a bucket of paint because I saw someone look at her the wrong way. Murder would be preferable._

_ 13\. Because she might be horrible at romantic metaphors, but she has never tried to cure me or make me perfect or make me be like that pointless painting girl. _

_ 14\. She is patient and keeps coming back for some reason_

_ 15\. She wants to live with me in this gross house with that supposedly sentimental painting._

* * *

She tries to sleep again, but is woken to throw up. And then she turns the page in the notebook and makes another, much simpler and easier to analyze list. It works better for someone calculated like her, instead of those loose and addled thoughts from her day.

_Reasons Why I Am Marrying Ty Lee:_

_ 1\. To cover up the fact that I'm pregnant with my brother's child_

_ 2\. Reasons 1 - 15 that I am dating her all are reasons that she is gullible and easy enough to manipulate that I can do this._


	7. Chapter 7

Mai listens to Ty Lee blather about her future with Azula once the two girls get back from their work-in-progress nest.

Now, Mai tries not to care about anything or anyone, but she feels a pain within her, a _need _to act upon her guilt. Azula is using Ty Lee, just like she is using Zuko, and it is beyond fucked up. The baby does not deserve to suffer, but Mai no longer cares much about the baby.

There is not an easy way to tell someone about this.

So Mai just comes right out and says it. She leans against the wall and looks Ty Lee directly into the eyes. That startles the retired acrobat.

"Azula is using you. She has to marry in order for her baby to be Fire Lord and she has never cared about anything but that crown. Don't let her do that. You don't deserve that."

"Oh, I know." Ty Lee smiles sunnily.

"You know what?" Mai inquires.

"I know she's using me. I'm kind of using her too. I always wanted a royal wedding and a baby with gold eyes. She's giving me that. I also do know that she was dating me and there are reasons she was… _is_."

"She's using Zuko."

Ty Lee's sly grin disappears.

"I feel bad about that. He maybe deserves a different heir. But he thinks he's being noble and that's good for him. Everybody wins this game of Azula's."

"Nobody has ever won a game when Azula is making up the rules. Nobody but her."

Ty Lee shakes her head. Mai can just _hear _the silent _tsk tsk_.

"I think we can win," Ty Lee says, widening her smile.

"I think I'm going to stop Zuko if I can't stop you," Mai replies. She has _fervor _and that makes Ty Lee nervous.

Ty Lee grabs Mai's wrist.

"You just want to stop her so that you can beat her. This is a _good _thing."

"No. It's a fucked up thing," Mai insists.

"How're you gonna change his mind, anyway?"

"Making out with him," Mai says on her way out of the door.

Well, Ty Lee cannot argue too much with that plan.

* * *

Meanwhile, Azula tires of prowling in the palace and gets permission to see her former father. She does not know why she craves his guidance; she is doing well for herself.

She sits across from him and feels the familiar comfort of father. His voice was the one that always mattered.

"The legal work went through, I hear," Ozai says once he sits down across from her. "You are officially my granddaughter now. Of course, there's that Fire Sage ceremony but…"

"That is unimportant," Azula says and Ozai shakes his head.

"It's very important. It shows that you would go to very drastic lengths to get what you want," Ozai says, looking at her as if she is a marvel. She feels betrayed by his eyes, although she is not sure why.

"I learned from the best," Azula retorts. He laughs. She wonders why she wanted him to be hurt.

"Zuko is such a poor choice. You gave him a gift. No woman in her right mind would fuck him, Fire Lord or not," Ozai says and Azula feels her very short fuse go off over the most ridiculous of things.

"You will not talk about him that way," Azula hisses through clenched teeth. She cannot believe that she has come to Zuko's defense, but Ozai touched a nerve she did not know she had.

Ozai looks as if she has just slapped him in the face. He manages to remain composed.

"What?" he growls.

"Zuko," Azula says clearly, leaning forward across the table, "will be a better father than you ever could be. Am I extorting him? Of course. He's hard not to extort. But he's been _my _father for a few days and I already think he's better at it than you've been in over twenty years."

"I would have given you the world. He will decorate your cage," Ozai says.

Azula breathes virulently but coldly, "You wanted me to retrieve the world for you and maybe I could play with it if I begged hard enough. He is a better father, a better grandfather and a better Fire Lord than you and the only reason you hate him is because you feel threatened. Do I threaten you? I can threaten you, father."

"He had the Avatar to fight for him. I had you. Let's think about who really lost the war for us." Ozai looks enraged. Azula unrepentantly loves it.

She snarls, "Now, that's a little embarrassing; you put the fate of the world in the hands of a fourteen year old? How very impressive of you. I'm winning. I'm getting the world as we speak, because I can play whoever thinks I need to be their little girl. My child will be Fire Lord and I will control the Fire Nation; Zuko already uses me enough. You will rot alone and worthless and forgotten by your dwindling supporters."

"You certainly don't value honor as much as him." Ozai shakes his head and tries to laugh.

But Azula's eyes light ablaze.

"_Honor _is a pacifier for losers. Victors don't care about it."

They are silent.

"Well, he's lucky to have someone like you to give him what he'll never acquire."

"He is. I don't believe I will be coming back."

They are, again, silent.

"Give me one thing," Ozai asks with his hands gently clasped.

"I will consider it out of my pity for you."

"Who's the real father?"

Azula hesitates.

"Zuko."

"How cute." Ozai shakes his head.

Azula snaps once and for all.

"Not cute. It's the only way I'm able to use him like this. He cares too much about being an honorable man and owning up to his mistakes and claiming a rightful heir. I should've let him fuck me again much earlier after the war."

He has no words.

She does not care.

* * *

Mai finds Zuko and he looks so happy to see her. Good. That makes this easier.

The conversation does not require much. He talks about his exhausting day, she listens. She waits for the perfect opportunity to put her mouth on his. Zuko is startled, and he gently pushes on her.

"You're mad at me. You're… we should talk," Zuko says and Mai looks at him as she once did. When they were young and believed love existed.

She presses her thigh against his groin and the conversation is over.

Zuko can feel something wrong about it, but he does not want her to stop what she is doing. Not for a second.

Mai kisses him fiercely, deeply, and that is when he thinks something might be wrong. She always knew he would come to her, and she waited for him to make the moves. Not submissively but savoring the power her body had over that poor boy.

Zuko begins to pull away.

But he changes his mind. Oh, he changes his mind.

He needs this.

* * *

That night, Azula is burning the midnight oil with Zuko's speech in hand. She hears the door open and hears her brother-father's distinctive footsteps. The gentle shaking sound of _something _accompanies him like an ugly musical instrument.

"I got you something," Zuko says awkwardly. He wonders if he will ever be able to speak to his sister the same way again.

"It's a rattle. So the baby can make even more noise than they usually do."

"I'm trying to be nice." Zuko grunts.

"I don't like nice," Azula replies, smirking like a wicked adolescent.

Zuko sighs. "You don't like much that I do."

Azula looks up at him out of the corner of her eye, and in a sultry tone that could topple empires mocks, "Oh, I can think of some things you do that I like."

Zuko ignores _that _uncomfortable rush of heat.

"I don't want to discuss sex. I want to discuss a stable future for your child. I know that's not what you actually want, but it's the reason I'm cooperating."

"It takes two," Azula sings.

They are silent save for Zuko grinding his teeth.

"You want a crown. I want to give that baby a better life than we had," he says honestly.

"I want you," Azula purrs.

"I've already had one attempt at sexual coercion today. I don't have the patience for another."

Azula jumps up. Zuko's eyes widen.

"_Who_?" she demands.

"Mai," he replies without hesitation.

Azula madly snarls, "What does she want? I thought she was done meddling with your life." Azula stands and kicks her chair aside. It does not satisfy her like she thought it would. "I will _make her _be done meddling with your life."

"She's your friend."

"We never forgave each other. And what she has tried to do now—"

"We can't be a thing. You're marrying Ty Lee. I… don't know what I'm doing yet. But we're not… _we _doesn't exist."

"I know that. I just don't like her—"

"Playing the same game you are?"

"I didn't fuck you to get this. I fucked you because I wanted to. The pregnancy has complicated things and I must defend my stake in this political nightmare that Mai is only accelerating. It isn't over. The questioning will never end. This is the _easy _part, ZuZu. Wait until it's born."

Zuko sighs and does what must be done. He says calmly, "I didn't say I'm not your ally. But I'm not your lover either."

Azula is less patient. She glares.

"Fine. I only came to you that night because I was pissed at my previous father."

"People have fucked for worse reasons," Zuko says. It was a genuine attempt at comfort, but she does not seem to notice.

"Goodnight, ZuZu. Write your own speech. I'll see you at the ceremony tomorrow, _daddy_."

She throws her pen down and lets the ink splatter.

Azula storms off with the intent to blame hormones later.

Zuko doesn't want to gaze after her, but he does.


	8. Chapter 8

Princess Azula does _not _get rejected.

Especially not by someone as pathetic as _Zuko_. He could not have just done that, because that is impossible, and ZuZu does not do impossible things.

Azula pursues Zuko to his bedroom and throws open the door. He looks at her like someone looks at a small, wounded animal. She wants to rip him apart.

"Mai is nothing compared to me," Azula snaps viciously.

Zuko sighs. He knew he would regret his tryst with the woman he has loved for so long.

"She is a way healthier person to be with," he explains, surprised at how calm he is. "Not that you're not healthy; I didn't mean it that way. I mean that it's not healthy for us to sleep with each other."

Slowly, Azula asks, "What would happen if we actually got together?"

She wonders if that would hurt. She wonders if she wants that.

"Publicly?" Zuko looks aghast, and Azula sees his guilt. She feels none for their illicit relationship, but, of course he would. "I don't even know. That—why would that happen? I thought Ty Lee couldn't know."

"This is hypothetical," Azula says, standing tall and still feeling smaller than him. "Go along with me. There is nothing legal stopping us, is there? In fact, it was commonplace in our family historically."

"Historically. _Very _historically," Zuko says breathlessly. He feels queasy.

"I told our father," Azula admits, surprised she said it. "I'm sure you told our mother. Mai knows. They haven't had horrible reactions."

"I didn't tell mother," Zuko says hastily. "This isn't hypothetical. You're suggesting this. I think you forget that you're technically my child now, I think. That's not acceptable."

"Is that it? Is that why you think you are so much better than me?" Azula scoffs, rolls her eyes, and crosses her arms.

"No. It's not. I don't think I'm better than you. I've never thought I'm better than you. I just don't think we should keep seeing each other like this, because you getting pregnant is a definite sign that we shouldn't be," Zuko says, walking towards her.

He tries to touch her face but she dodges as if he is trying to strike her.

"Is it Mai? Is she the reason?" Azula demands.

Zuko takes two steps towards her and she takes four steps away from him. "I just told you the reason. Why won't you believe me?"

Azula's eyes smolder. It is bad. It is worse than Zuko ever imagined it could be.

His little sister purrs, "For the same reason no one would believe you when your poor, broken little sister explains how you so exploited her while she was in your care."

"I didn't do that," Zuko whispers, trying to deny the danger in her words.

"Think it through, ZuZu. Take your time." She smirks, looking pleased after looking enraged for the entirety of their argument.

"That's a threat," he admits aloud.

"Yes. It is." Azula stares at him for a few silent moments before saying, "I will destroy everything you love."

Zuko thinks of Ty Lee, the girl Azula says cannot know about their relationship under any circumstances. Fire Lord Zuko does not know why, but he has no qualms about using it to his advantage. "Which will destroy the one thing you love."

"It's all a matter of how I phrase it when it comes to Ty Lee. She _loves _my suffering because she can feel good about _healing _it, or whatever her obsession with me stems from…" Azula pauses. "The same can be said for our mother."

"She wouldn't believe you," Zuko says, more to himself than Azula.

"I can be very convincing." His sister slowly shakes her head, that smirk not faltering for a heartbeat.

Zuko takes in a deep breath. He…

"I won't break. Go ahead and tell the world," he says, knowing he very well may regret it.

* * *

In her own living quarters, Azula shuts the bathroom door, slides down, which is incredibly uncomfortable in her current state, and presses her back against it. She stares at her hands for at least thirty minutes before Ty Lee even notices. It is painful, but, well worth it.

And let the crying begin.

"Are you okay? Princess, are you okay?" Ty Lee asks through the door, trying to open it and failing. Azula can hear the crack of her knees on the other side of the door and knows Ty Lee now is kneeling. "You don't seem okay."

"Leave," Azula orders, her voice constricted from emotion. Or fake emotion. Perhaps somewhere in-between; she does cry a lot lately.

"I can't do that. Are you okay? Please talk to me," Ty Lee begs sweetly.

"No, no I can't," Azula says. "It's about…"

She realizes suddenly that she is in no way prepared to talk about her father. She notices suddenly how familiar this position is, and she thinks the tears might not be as fake as they were mere seconds ago.

How can she explain Zuko without explaining that? How can she keep that inside for any longer? Azula does not know the words. There is one for it, maybe two, and she will never say them.

Even when lying about Zuko.

"I'm always here," Ty Lee says softly.

"Would you love this baby no matter who the father is?" Azula asks, and she realizes her honesty. The truth feels bitter and wrong in her mouth.

"Of course. Because it's mine as soon as we set up this wedding," Ty Lee says vehemently, her voice muffled by the door.

"Good," Azula whispers. She will come back to Ty Lee.

She remembers sitting with her back against this door before, her father on the other side, and she cannot discuss it when she feels so sick.

Ty Lee waits for her, unmoving, but when Azula finally comes out, she bypasses Ty Lee without a word and goes to the courtyard.

* * *

Azula sits down across from her mother for tea. She never imagined this day would come, and Ursa never did either.

Princess Azula opens with, "I know I usually would never talk to you—"

"I'm not your mother anymore, remember?" Ursa still is quite bitter about that paperwork.

"I should leave. This was a mistake." _And _it works; her ex-mother takes her by the wrist. "Do not touch me. I do not allow people to touch me unless I say so. Did I say so?"

Azula sits back down, and her mother lets go of her arm.

"What is it? I imagined you would be very unhappy that I responded to your fiancée's invitation to your baby shower."

"I am, but I want to ask you something," Azula says, and her heart begins to race. That is a very unusual feeling, and she does not like it. "Is the reason you… I shouldn't say hate, but I'm going to say hate… me. Or, is the reason our relationship was so… strained, because you never wanted me in the first place."

That gives her mother pause. Azula thinks that may be a success until she realizes that she truly wants the answer. She did not go into this conversation expecting that.

"Why do you ask?"

"It just seems awfully like father to… force you… to have me. To have me." The hasty addition is calculated, but Azula's mouth feels sour when she thinks about how much she means it.

"You wouldn't understand."

"I would. I would more than you can imagine." Azula gazes at her feet. This part is not intentional. "I'm going to throw up all over this table if I discuss this with you. It doesn't matter, because, surprisingly, this baby is not his—do not interrupt me—it belongs to someone who has treated me very similarly."

Ursa's eyes flash in a way that Azula did not know they could. "I'd kill anyone who treated you like your father did."

"Oh, I think you wouldn't, because it's…" Azula swallows pointedly. Her mother buys it. "Because it's Zuko. It is very easy to see me as a means to an end when I was born to be one. I don't necessarily blame him. I was the one who decided to initially… keep it."

"I'm confused," says Ursa.

"No, you're not. You just don't want to hear it." Azula turns her feet as if to stand up. "I told you I shouldn't have come here."

Slowly, Ursa asks, "You're saying it's his."

"Yes," Azula says too fiercely, and so she adds softly, "Yes. I could have taken him in a fight, so I suppose it is fair. However, I… being honest sucks, I hate being honest… I think I will hate this baby and I should have never started this. Ty Lee will love it, so I suppose I was wise to coerce her into marrying me."

Azula realizes that she has been wringing her hands without noticing it. It's not that truthful. She was the one who seduced him, and she still does not know why. She still does not know why she is willing to do this in order to stop him from leaving her.

She also realizes that the true parts of her story are harder to tell than the lies.

"I didn't know." The words seem forced. Too much is going on inside of Ursa's head for her to keep up with a conversation and the daughter glaring at her.

"You haven't been around to know. Tell me if my child will see me how I see you."

"I…" Ursa cannot continue.

Azula has never seen her mother cry over her until this moment.

It is very satisfying.

* * *

Zuko has never felt so confused and afraid and devastated. His mother is angrier at him than his father ever was before.

"She started it!" he protests at the top of his lungs.

"You should have said no!"

"I couldn't!"

"You could have!"

"I'm not sorry!"

"Neither is your father!"

"I'm not like him! She's like him!"

Quietly, for the first time since Ursa cornered her son, she says, "You both are."


	9. Chapter 9

**_AN: _**_I subscribe to the three sets of twins headcanon about Ty Lee. It makes more sense than having such identical daughters and I don't think someone could survive so many at once in the A:tLA universe without modern medicines. Twins run in families so I like that one._

_I'm going to start focusing a little more on the pregnancy and baby now that it's more involved in Azula's life. Working out stuff with Zuko and Ty Lee and Mai will still be at the forefront, but the baby was less noticeable until now that she's further in._

_I also am going to give it my best shot to keep this close to canon. I wrote it before Smoke and Shadow so I do have some lacking stuff because of that, but I really do want to make this a creepy turn of canon-ness._

_Thank you for reading and waiting for these chapters so far apart._

* * *

Zuko cannot believe her.

He has just returned from the fight with his mother and Azula is sitting there as if nothing had happened. She even looks _happy_. If she were not pregnant, he would pull her to her feet and insist on an Agni Kai at sunset. Unfortunately, he would have to take the more diplomatic approach.

Azula has always been better at that kind of negotiation.

"That wasn't just _your _secret," Zuko says as soon as he stands in front of her. "You can't go around telling it."

Azula shrugs. She smirks, as if this is _funny _and not utterly devastating.

"They _do _say two can keep a secret if one of them is dead," she chimes brightly. He wants to wipe the smug expression off of her face, but she was visibly knocked up with his child and he was not a terrible enough person to do that.

"Clever," Zuko snarls, unable to unclench his fists.

"And," Azula blithely adds with sparkling eyes, "on top of that common sense, you probably shouldn't trust me so easily." Azula smirks, pleased with a job well done.

"I think it's best if I get out of Ty Lee's way. Marrying her is your only way to have a legitimate child, and I think that's important to you. She's almost as jealous as you and that's why you've been so clear about not telling her any of our secrets. That could happen," says Zuko. Azula has never heard him be so _threatening _before. "If I'm with Mai, you don't have to worry about any conflicted feelings. You can get the girl and have the crown prince or princess and live happily ever after," Zuko growls, his shoulders broad and his knuckles white.

Azula is unafraid. Why would she be scared?

"You did this willingly," says Azula. "You cannot act so _wronged _when all I did was point out what you _truly _did. You will _always _be the father of my child."

Zuko grinds his teeth.

"I wish I could take that back," he snaps.

Azula acts like his statement does not hurt.

* * *

That night, Azula has a nightmare about a baby with dark hair and golden eyes. It looked at her, helpless and oddly adoring. The child reminded her of how Ty Lee looked at her, even though it was obviously hers. Hers and Zuko's. She knew that much.

She and the baby were alone together in the cold, bleak, white. A storm of snow and lightning pounded down upon them, impossible in reality but ordinary in the world of pained dreams. She kept trying to keep her baby warm but she could not bend.

Like trying to move her legs but being unable, she could not conjure a single flame.

She cried, and the baby died of cold, turning blue and slowly stopping its incessant wailing.

Azula was buried alive by the ice, helpless and defeated.

She wakes beside Ty Lee. The former Kyoshi Warrior soundly sleeps, snoring slightly. Azula wonders if her fiancée has ever even had a bad dream. Ty Lee always _interprets _those of others but never speaks of her own. Azula gives that science zero credit.

Looking at Ty Lee tonight, it is not the first time Azula has envied her. It must be nice to be perpetually happy. To never wake screaming. To never be so fucked up that she is having a baby with her brother.

It must be nice.

* * *

"I'm getting really excited about this pregnancy," Ty Lee says, grinning at Azula in the early morning. "I can't wait until we have a baby. We need a _name_!"

Azula wraps her arms around herself. It has gotten noticeably harder, even though she is a few months in.

"What do you think?" Azula asks, even though she knows she will pick the name. Not Ty Lee, not Zuko, not Ozai, not anyone but her.

"Well, I have two names for each gender so I hope we're having twins!" Ty Lee smiles as that comes crashing down on Azula.

"Is that… is that possible?" Azula whispers, her eyes wide. "I can't handle twins."

"Why not?" Ty Lee shrugs. "My parents had three sets."

"Maybe we could give one to Mai and Zuko," Azula says. She wonders why she has such bitterness in her mouth when she says _Mai and Zuko _as a couple. Zuko is a pathetic loser and Azula only clings to him out of old, dried up desires.

Ty Lee smiles about that for some reason. Maybe it was a joke. Azula struggles with the truth or untruth of her own words of late. Things have gotten blurry and she thinks she might be having some mental slips here and there.

"That would be cute. They'd be twins and cousins." Ty Lee then frowns. "That does sound kind of incest-y though. Gross."

Azula fakes morning sickness to excuse herself from the conversation.

* * *

Mai wakes up beside Zuko.

Everything has been working quite well. He cannot take back the fact that he and Azula are having a baby, but Mai can keep him away from those claws dragging him down into the darkest deadliest depths.

She will not let Azula control him, but she cannot change what has already transpired.

"It's really nice to be with you," says Zuko. Mai did not even notice he was awake. "I missed you so much and things have been pretty tumultuous with Azula and…"

Mai presses her pointer finger to his lips.

"Don't talk about her. At least not now," Mai replies.

Zuko has no problem with complying. He kisses Mai and she kisses him back, which is the best feeling in the world. As she runs her fingers down his arm, he feels her nails and thinks for a moment he is with someone else, which revolts and confuses him.

He pulls back so he can see Mai's eyes, which are so unlike his sister's.

Zuko kisses her again and they fall into each other.

* * *

The next day, Azula starts feeling the pain in the early morning. She had another nightmare about her baby freezing to death, but this time there were two. Her stomach feels tight, her legs hurt, her back hurts worse than when she threw it out while training.

Ty Lee struggles to breathe as Zuko contacts the healer.

"It's not contractions," Ty Lee says. Azula can see her lie.

The healer arrives and talks in hushed voices to the Fire Lord. Azula knows what they are talking about but does not want to admit it. She is too early in her pregnancy to give birth. The baby will die. The baby will die. The baby will die.

Azula tries not to believe her nightmares and hallucinations, but maybe she should have given them more credit.

Ty Lee babbles by her side as Zuko contacts the best healer he knows, hoping she can get here soon enough.

"I dreamed about my baby dying in the snow," Azula whispers to Ty Lee. "Katara comes from the South Pole. What if she is responsible for the death of my baby?"

Ty Lee looks at a loss for words. Azula closes her eyes; Ty Lee's stupid vibrations and magic talk will only make this worse.

The healer attempts to circumvent the circumstances.

* * *

Zuko sits beside Azula. The contractions have stopped but some of the pain has not receded. The healer said bed rest; Zuko said he still wanted Katara's opinion. Azula kept her nightmares about the snowstorm to herself.

"I haven't been this scared in a long time," Zuko whispers.

"Why? It would take away one of your problems if my baby dies," Azula hisses, savoring the wounded look in his eyes. "Admit how much better things would be for you if you didn't have to deal with this. Maybe mother would even forgive you."

"Don't talk like that, okay? I'm going to be this baby's father even if she never gets to call me that," Zuko vehemently says, taking Azula's hand whether she likes it or not. "You're a horrible person and I hate you but I do kind of love you in a weird way and I absolutely love this child."

"You love Mai more," Azula says.

Zuko groans.

"Not more than my own kid. Never more than my own kid," says Zuko. "I want to be with Mai, Azula, because I can't be with you and we're bad for each other. We both know that. Ty Lee is probably the best thing that ever happened to you. You deserve to be with her."

"What if Mai doesn't want you?" Azula says quietly.

"Mai has been coming on stronger than ever and I don't want to miss that chance. I've lost her almost as many times as I've lost you."

"If this baby doesn't die, which is looking unlikely, we'll never be able to take back what we've done, and we'll never be able to revoke it fully. It doesn't matter if we get the _right _girls in the end because this will _never ever _leave us."

Zuko does not know what to say. He tries anyway.

"I'm still angry about you going and telling the world," Zuko says.

"I have not told the world. I _can_, but I have _some _dignity. It is almost as shameful for me as it is for you. I mean, I am the mentally unstable psycho little sister who you could have so easily exploited for your own sexual gain…" Azula trails off after deriving enough pleasure from his white knuckles and the pressure on her hand and the anger in his eyes. "All the same, I can be vindictive and you must live with that."

"I guess I have to. If we're having this baby, we're stuck together," says Zuko.

"Oh, ZuZu, we already were."

Zuko kisses her, and immediately regrets it.

But, like the baby, he cannot take it back.

* * *

Katara arrives the next morning, which Zuko knows will complicate things. Dealing with his sister, Mai, and Ty Lee is hard enough, but Katara is a good friend and she can save his baby. In fact, she _does _save his baby and puts a very angry Azula on bedrest.

It will not make his sister happy to be stuck in place, but he will tie her to the bed if he has to.

"You look more emotional than Azula and Ty Lee," says Katara as soon as Ty Lee settles Azula's rage. "This… matters to you."

"It's…" Zuko hesitates, trying to find the safest words. "I'm going to be the closest thing to a father this baby gets. It's my heir, anyway. I feel attached and I… I guess I've been kind of excited about getting to meet it."

Katara looks at him and faintly smiles. He hopes she can understand without fully understanding.

* * *

Azula is helplessly bedridden when Ursa visits her.

She wants to get up and run, but she cannot. Something inside of her wants to preserve her baby more than avoid her former mother. That kind of madness could only be called motherhood.

"What do you want?" Azula demands, glaring. She hopes her expression can force away Ursa, since she physically cannot.

"I just wanted to check on you after what happened," says Ursa, avoiding Azula's gaze.

Azula sighs haughtily. "Does the whole world know? Regardless, if I wanted your presence, I would have requested it."

Ursa is unaffected by the sharp statement.

"I know, but I came anyway," she says.

"I am amazed you want to even be in the proximity of Zuko," replies Azula, now staring at the ceiling. "He seems to think you despise him."

"He should have said no," Ursa states, prompting Azula's soft groan.

"It was a mutual decision," says Azula. "I only wanted you to know that he is not as perfect as you think. Everyone seems to be under the impression that he can do no wrong."

"It wasn't really a mutual decision. I imagine you didn't even consider it to be wrong," recklessly states Ursa. Azula sits straight up, baby be damned.

"Oh, really? You think I am _that _fragile and pathetic?" snarls Azula, a fire burning fiercely in her eyes.

"I think that you didn't know any better," Ursa continues, not seeming to take the _hint _that this is a conversation Azula refuses to have. "How could you? Did anyone even teach you that it was anything but normal?"

Azula thinks of many answers before deciding to just lie back down and remain silent.

She does not need this.


	10. Chapter 10

Azula needs to get out of bed. She is not _allowed _to do so and fears losing the baby if she does. If anything, this experience has shown her that she wants the baby and she _always _makes sure that she gets what she wants.

Still, it is torture to be unable to escape conversations with people. She does not want to see anyone. Azula hates every single person around her and involved in this drama. But, because she cannot get up, she is stuck dealing with all of them.

"So, you don't love Ty Lee," Zuko states, sitting down at the end of the bed.

Azula sighs, tired of this already. It is only a brief time after sunrise and she wants to burn the palace to the ground.

"No, I don't love her, but I don't love you either," Azula says.

"If you don't love me, why are you jealous of me and Mai?"

"Because I want you to be solely in love with me and hopelessly crushed about the fact that I don't love you back," Azula says. "Besides that, I _do _want you even if I don't love you and I always get what I want. And when I do have something, I do not like to share it. You should know that, being my brother."

"Are you afraid of raising a child? I am. I really want this baby and I hate to say that I want it with you, which is confusing. Neither of us had any good examples of parenting, so I doubt were actually fit to be parents together."

"We won't be parents together. You're both my brother and my father legally. That does not make up the ordinary family unit no matter how you slice it."

Zuko sits down. "I'm going to pursue a relationship with Mai. I think you should stay with Ty Lee."

"I am aware of your perceptions of what is righteous and what is honorable but—"

He kisses her on the lips. Then they both are confused. This seems to be the way it goes with them. When they break the kiss, he stares at her for a few moments.

Zuko insists vehemently, "I just think _this_ is unhealthy, but I think we can still be parents in a… unconventional way."

"Something like that," Azula whispers back.

He leaves before he can say too much.

* * *

Azula drifts in and out of sleep. Everyone watching over her has to keep her fairly drugged to stop her from losing her mind. Losing her mind further, at least.

When she wakes up, she sees her mother.

"I think we said all that needed to be said to each other," Azula says. She wanted to sound cold, but she thinks she sounds afraid.

"I'm sorry that I pushed you so much last time we spoke," says Ursa. "It's not something you want to talk about, I'm sure. I know you legally removed the title of mother from me but you can't change the fact that I gave birth to you."

"You stopped being more of a mother than that little physical fact long before I had paperwork drafted." Azula's eyes droop, but she desperately tries to stay awake. She will not drift away from this confrontation. "You left me. And from our conversation earlier, I think you know exactly what you left me too so you cannot possibly defend yourself."

Her mother says nothing until she dismisses any talk of Ozai's transgressions and says, "I'll stay here until the baby is born. You'll need help."

"I have Zuko. I have Ty Lee. I suppose I have Mai too. I do not need you." Azula's eyelids are too heavy for her to focus on the conversation any longer.

She passes out and her mother leaves the room.

* * *

Azula sits up picking disinterestedly at the food servants brought her when her future wife walks into the room. When Azula looks up, she does not know what to make of that smile. They were in love once but Azula does not know if that held up after the betrayals. She just knows she needs to get married to make this child the heir to the throne of the Fire Nation and Ty Lee is still head over heels in love with her.

She barely wants to share this baby with Zuko. Sharing with a second mother makes something instinctual inside of her angrily growl, even if she knows the child needs two parents. Or maybe three, in this case.

"How are you doing?" Ty Lee asks gently and sweetly, giving Azula a quick kiss on the lips.

That _does _feel good. Azula tries to compare it in her head to the kiss she shared with Zuko two days ago but cannot do it. She thinks it might be impossible.

"Terribly. This baby needs to come out of me," Azula says, touching her stomach. She casts aside her food and grabs Ty Lee's shoulder to help herself sit up higher. "Maybe we should just get a knife and slice it out. It is not as premature now."

"You can wait," Ty Lee says, smiling. "It'll work out really well. I promise."

"I do not think you can promise that so easily," Azula says, trying to stretch. She could not be more uncomfortable.

"We'll wait and we'll have this baby and we'll get married and it'll all be great," Ty Lee says, touching Azula's hand. "Then we'll raise the future Fire Lord just like I always dreamed I would."

"I dreamed I would _be _the future Fire Lord," says Azula, sighing and lying down. Her head spins and she feels nauseated. Why did she try to sit up?

"That would've been nice," Ty Lee says.

"You are the reason it did not happen," Azula says bitterly and harshly. She cannot stop herself from glaring. Ty Lee looks hurt, but she _should _be. "If you hadn't have broken…"

Azula cannot continue. She will not admit that she has a heart, much less that it could be broken by anyone.

"I'll stay with you," Ty Lee says. Azula likes that idea.

She closes her eyes. It feels safer than being alone or with her mother.

Does she love her?

Does she love her?

Does she love her?

Azula is _using _Ty Lee. Azula is _using _Zuko.

She does not love either of them, right?

* * *

Two weeks later, four people are in the room for the birth of Izumi: Ty Lee, Zuko, Katara and Ursa. Azula wants absolutely none of them here with her, but she is in no state to argue. She holds back reactions to the pain for a prolonged amount of time, but ceases being able to after a while.

"This is entirely your fault! _You _did this!" Azula snarls at her brother. He stops trying to hold her hand when she claws him with her sharp nails.

People helping with the birth would not understand that. Ty Lee would not. Ursa would, but Azula does not care. Right now, she could not care less who knows about her affair with her brother.

"I'm not sorry," says Zuko. Azula would scoff if she were not sweating and in agonizing pain.

Ty Lee still thinks Azula looks very pretty, even right now. She would be proud to admit that.

Zuko is closer to her and finds her beautiful even when she is a mess. He would not be proud to admit that.

Azula is none the wiser about the two people who desperately want her.

* * *

After three hours of labor, the baby rests on Azula's chest. Night has fallen outside but none of the four unwelcome guests have abandoned Azula or Izumi. The baby girl looks right at her with wide golden eyes that glitter in the moonlight.

No one has ever gazed at her with such need and love and every other emotion that makes her heart swell.

She cannot hold back her small smile.

Zuko reaches to hold the baby. Ty Lee does too.

Azula glances between them. The real father of the baby or the soon-to-be second mother of the baby? Who is the right choice?

"I need more time with Izumi. _I _did all of the work," Azula snaps, buying herself time.

Zuko stares at the infant for a couple of minutes and leaves the room. Ty Lee lies down on the bed beside Azula, on top of the covers. She closes her eyes and listens to the sound of her breathing.

Azula hears nothing but the heartbeats of Izumi and Ty Lee until she overhears Zuko talking to Mai outside.

The acidic jealousy burns ferociously in her chest.


End file.
